Forsaken World (Book 5): Homecoming

by Watson, Thomas A.

  “Let’s unsaddle half the packhorses and go over what I grabbed. Then when the sun comes up, we need to check them over.”

  Shaking her head, “They weren’t bit. Well, Tyler wasn’t because I felt over him,” Sandy reported.

  “Sandy, did you inspect his feet? Chris’s feet are cut, scratched, and swollen up. The fact I could tell that through the caked dirt lets me know they are worse under the dirt. I don’t know how he was walking, much less running.”

  “Tyler’s feet were swollen, but that’s all I noticed.”

  They moved over and took the pack saddles off of Mary’s horses and then Mary started spreading the stuff she’d taken off the stinker soldiers. “Mary, can you keep watch?” Sandy asked, and Mary jerked her head up. “I want to sneak across the river and see if the field over there is surrounded by a fence like this one is.”

  “Oh, yeah. That’s a good idea,” Mary nodded.

  Sandy stripped down to underwear and found Mary giving her a confused look. “I’m not getting my clothes and boots soaked again. I know I have spares, but I’ve reached my limit of keeping wet clothes on,” Sandy explained, and Mary just grinned. Both wore boy’s underwear after having taken several packages at the Boy Scout camp.

  Moving to the water, Sandy smiled to see Dan trot over as she lowered the monocular and held her AR up. With only one magazine, Sandy would run before fighting.

  Slipping in the water and stepping carefully, Sandy’s bare feet found the bottom was covered by smooth rocks. Reaching the middle, Sandy had to bounce off the bottom to keep her head from going under. Walking out on the other side, Sandy was also surprised about the current the Little River had. It was more than she’d expected.

  Stepping carefully through the trees, Sandy wished she had thought to put on her mesh swimming shoes she’d gotten at the Boy Scout camp. “That’s what you get for not planning,” Sandy mumbled, wincing after stepping on a stick. Reaching the tree line, Sandy looked out and gave a sigh of relief seeing the field was surrounded by a barbed wire fence.

  When she rejoined Mary, they took the other saddles off. “Sandy, watch,” Mary said, lifting one of the M4s she’d taken and a green laser shot out. Then, Sandy realized she only saw the laser with the monocular.

  “An IR laser,” Sandy grinned, pulling on her mesh shoes. Then Mary turned on a flashlight, but like the laser, it only showed up in the monocular. “How do we put one on our guns?”

  Shrugging, “Have to wait until light,” Mary answered. “They just clamp on that bumpy part, but I’ll have to use Johnathan’s tools.”

  “What else?” Sandy asked, looking at the gear spread out on a blanket.

  “Grenades like you saw, four of them,” Mary said, pointing. “I don’t know what kind of bullet that bottom barrel of that other M4 shoots, but it’s huge and we don’t have any. I haven’t gone through the satchel yet, but we have two more PVS-14 and two that look like small binoculars but aren’t. They clip on the same thing the monocular does.”

  “Let’s put those laser things on our rifles and take one of the other M4s and just leave the rest.”

  Mary nodded. “We need to take some spare parts from the ones we leave. Got six more magazines, but they were all empty, in real dump bags.” Sandy glanced over at the smaller dump bags, thinking she would keep the feed bag for her dump bag, but would put one of the smaller ones on her saddle.

  They both grabbed their chairs and sat down. “Sorry, I couldn’t just put them off,” Mary mumbled.

  Keeping an eye out, Sandy slowly nodded. “Neither could I,” she admitted. “You think they will slow us down?”

  “I’m being honest when I say, I don’t think so,” Mary answered. “They are tough and have survived on the run for over a week with no weapons. That is an accomplishment in anyone’s book.”

  “Mary, if they would’ve been a little bigger I wouldn’t have helped them, and left them to their fate,” Sandy informed Mary.

  Turning to Sandy, Mary scoffed. “Shit. If I would’ve seen a bigger person close by, I would’ve left. But we didn’t, and I think we made the right decision.”

  “Why don’t you get some sleep? I’ll take first watch and start on the horses at first light,” Sandy offered, and Mary reached over patting Sandy’s leg and then went over to the sleeping rolls. Tyler had crawled over and was curled up with Chris, so Mary laid on the vacated bedroll.

  With Dan at her side, Sandy grabbed one of the brushes and started brushing down the horses, waiting on the sun to rise.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Northwest of Herndon, Kentucky

  Feeling a hand on her shoulder, Sandy cracked her eyes open and found Mary leaning over her with a smile. “It’s five,” Mary said in a low voice.

  Nodding, Sandy sat up, feeling her back knot up. “As long as I’ve been sleeping on the ground, you’d think my body would be used to it by now,” Sandy grumbled.

  “You figure out how to do that, let me know,” Mary chuckled. “I woke up yesterday with a crick in my back so bad I thought it was broken. I’m thinking we need to use the hammock more.”

  Getting up, Sandy saw the boys still asleep. “Some of those cuts need tending to,” Sandy motioned to the boys’ feet and legs. “I pulled some of my clothes out for them to wear.”

  Mary nodded in understanding as she too turned to the boys. Sandy was just a little shorter than her, but Sandy had a slender tone build while she had a medium athletic build. Both were always seen as pretty, what young men referred to as MILFs, but before the event, both were just a tad overweight. But not now.

  “I sewed up some socks,” Mary said, holding up two pairs of socks that had canvas sewn to the bottom. “But I think we need to clean and treat those cuts and leave them open to air tonight.”

  Shaking her head, “Normally I would agree, but not now,” Sandy said. “If for some reason we have to move on foot, they will need to be ready.”

  Lowering the hand holding the socks, Mary sighed. “You’re right.”

  Turning away from the boys, Sandy moved over to the small stove and poured a cup of coffee, then moved over to the clothes she had washed. Feeling they were dry, Sandy folded them up as Mary came over holding Sandy’s AR. “I put the laser thing on,” Mary told her. “I used the bore sight to get them close, and I say let’s try them before we leave.”

  Taking the AR, Sandy shook her head. “Add much more to it and my gun will weigh as much as me.”

  “Thought the same,” Mary grinned, watching Sandy drape the sling over her head and the AR hung under her right arm. “I filtered some water in one of the five gallon jugs and have the shower bags filled up, so we can clean up the boys,” Mary told her, pointing back at the collapsible jug.

  “That the stuff we are leaving?” Sandy asked, seeing three M4s propped up next to a tree and a small pile of stuff near them. Even from where she was standing, Sandy could tell the M4s were missing parts.

  “Yeah,” Mary answered, taking a sip of coffee as Sandy packed the clothes she had washed. Beside the pack were two compression shirts and two pair of boy’s underwear. “After we clean them up, I’ll sew the band in, so the underwear won’t fall off of them.”

  “Wish I would’ve kept those shorts now,” Sandy sighed.

  “Me too,” Mary agreed. “But we had to get rid of gear and only wore the shorts after bathing. Underwear serves the same purpose. I don’t know how many times I fought with Bill because he, Jason, and Ian would walk outside in underwear.”

  Sandy grinned, “Johnathan and Lance also. I just came to the conclusion; it’s a boy thing.”

  “So boys see underwear as shorts, so we were right in leaving them,” Mary nodded. “Let’s saddle the horses, then wake the boys and get them tended to.”

  After placing the blankets, they grabbed the first pack saddle. “You know, after repeating the damn route so many times from Kentucky Lake, it really seems like I’ve traveled it,” Sandy admitted, buckling the saddle on.

>   “Yeah, and I found a good-looking oxbow on the map beside the Red River southeast of Olmstead. It’s thirty-three miles, and if that one doesn’t look good there are two more, one above and one below the spot,” Mary said as they lifted another saddle up.

  Settling the saddle on the horse’s back, they started buckling it down. “I just don’t feel comfortable anymore going long stretches after that horde,” Sandy sighed. “I want something left in the horses; in case we have to make another marathon dash.”

  “Won’t find me arguing,” Mary grunted out as they picked up another pack saddle. “Never thought you and I would be loading two hundred pound saddles by ourselves,” Mary said. “Granted, none of them weigh that much now since we ditched the feed.”

  Buckling the saddle down, “I wish we could load the damn things on our own as fast as Bill and Johnathan could,” Sandy admitted.

  “Hey, we can load them by ourselves, that’s what matters, just not as fast, and it wasn’t easy for them to do that when the pack saddles were loaded down,” Mary reminded her as they continued.

  “But they could do it alone, faster than we can together,” Sandy bragged.

  When they grabbed the last pack saddle, both were sweating in the afternoon heat. “I remember for the first week, you and I had to let them saddle our horses. Then we did it,” Mary pointed out.

  Looking at her saddle with all the extra gear strapped to it, she knew without a doubt, the saddle was a hundred and twenty pounds. “With the boys riding with us, we need to swap out riding horses,” Sandy noted.

  “Okay,” Mary agreed as Sandy picked up her saddle with a grunt. “Bill’s and Johnathan’s saddles aren’t packed heavy and seem to weigh what ours do. I say we put those on the horses we ride the next day.”

  “Sounds good,” Sandy panted, setting her saddle on the horse feeling thankful he didn’t move away, which they would do occasionally. With the horses saddled, they each checked arrows in the quivers for cracks or torn vanes, then replaced the arrows that were no good and the arrows they hadn’t retrieved.

  “I’ll start some food, you get the boys up,” Mary smiled.

  Nodding, Sandy grabbed the dog bowls and saw Mary had already cleaned them. Moving over to the sleeping boys, Sandy gently shook Chris. “Hey, it’s time to get up,” she said softly.

  From a dead sleep Chris bolted upright, jumping to his feet with wide terrified eyes like he was ready to take off. “Chris,” Sandy snapped softly. “You’re safe.” Turning to Sandy with terror on his face, Sandy grabbed him before he took off. It was several tense seconds until Chris blinked his eyes and started to relax. “Sandy, remember?”

  Slowly Chris nodded, then let his eyes roam around and all the tension left his body. Collapsing back on the bedroll, Chris panted like he had run for hours nonstop. “You okay?” Sandy asked, reaching up and caressing his forehead.

  Closing his eyes, “Stinkers were here and the Army men were throwing Tyler to them,” Chris panted.

  “Hey,” Sandy said leaning over, and Chris opened his eyes to find Sandy leaning over him. “You’re with us now. Those bitches try that, we’ll kill them all,” Sandy vowed.

  A small smile crossed Chris’s filthy face. “Thank you, Ms. Sandy,” he said, sitting up and hugging Sandy’s neck.

  Hugging Chris back, “Why don’t you wake up Tyler, so he doesn’t try to run off,” Sandy offered and then let Chris go.

  Leaning over, Chris gently shook Tyler. “Tyler, time to get up,” Chris whispered. Tyler didn’t bolt up from supine; Tyler levitated to his feet with wide eyes, looking around for a clear path to take off running. Chris stood up and grabbed Tyler’s shoulders, “Tyler, it’s okay,” Chris said, holding Tyler’s shoulders tight.

  With terror on his face, Tyler turned to his brother and for several seconds, didn’t recognize him. Then Tyler blinked and the adrenaline dump stopped. Like a noodle, Tyler collapsed on the bed roll and tears leaked from his eyes. “I couldn’t keep up,” Tyler whimpered.

  Sandy moved over as Chris sat down beside Tyler. “It was a dream, Tyler,” Sandy assured him, and caressed his forehead. Seeing Sandy, Tyler sprang at her, wrapping his arms around her and cried softly in her neck. Hugging Tyler tight, “Shh, Mary and I are here,” Sandy cooed gently.

  It took a few minutes, but Tyler stopped crying and let Sandy go and sat back down. Looking at Tyler’s face, Sandy could see the only remotely clean areas were the tear streaks down his cheeks. Dragging the back of his wrist across his face to wipe the tears off, Tyler turned the streaks into muddy swaths. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled.

  Reaching out, Sandy lifted his chin up. “You have nothing to be sorry for,” she told him. “You never yelled out or put us in danger. Besides, you and your brother have been through a hard ordeal.”

  Sniffling, Tyler nodded as Sandy let his chin go. “Boys, we need to get you cleaned up and take care of those cuts. Some already look bad and we can’t let them get worse, especially your feet. You need those to run,” Sandy told them, looking from one to the other. “Who wants to go first?”

  “I will,” Chris said boldly, and Sandy gave him a thankful smile.

  Sandy got up and grabbed Johnathan’s camp chair and set it up under the shower bag. Glancing back she saw Chris stand up, wincing hard as he put weight on his feet. Walking over, Sandy scooped him up and carried him over to the chair. “I’m just washing you off. You’re going to need to lie down for us to clean the cuts,” Sandy told him, grabbing the hose for the shower bag.

  Squeezing the handle to test the water, Sandy raised an eyebrow. With the silver water bag hanging in the sun for a while, she knew she would love it, but wasn’t sure about the brothers. “Chris, is this too warm?” she asked, grabbing his hand and squirting just a little water out.

  She could tell it was a little warm, but Chris shook his head. “No, it’s all right,” he answered.

  Grabbing the rag and soap, “Close your eyes,” Sandy said, and wetted him down.

  “Um, I can shower myself,” Chris assured her as she wet him down.

  Hanging the hose up, “I’m sure you can, and after today you will, but I’m checking you for wounds,” Sandy explained, soaping up the rag.

  “I wasn’t bit,” Chris said quickly.

  Chuckling as she washed him down, “Baby, unless they bit you on the butt, I can see that,” Sandy told him.

  “It was nighttime when the stinkers came,” Chris sighed as Sandy washed him down, making notes in her mind of each cut, scrape, and bruise. “I tried finding some shoes for us, but couldn’t.”

  Finding a long and somewhat deep scratch under Chris’s left arm that was partially scabbed over but very red, “What did that?” Sandy asked.

  “Climbing under a car and turned around to pull Tyler under. A piece of metal was sticking out,” Chris answered with a wince as Sandy cleaned gently around the wound and then the wound itself.

  The brothers weren’t famine thin with swollen bellies, but she could count their ribs with ease. She found many deep scratches on his legs that Chris told her came from running through bushes. Of everything she came across, his feet were by far the worst. All Sandy did was knock the dirt off because cleaning those cuts, scraps, and gashes was going to hurt, and Sandy only wanted it to hurt once.

  Holding out the rag, “Wash where the underwear covers,” Sandy told him, moving to turn around.

  “Um,” Chris blushed, but didn’t reach for the rag. “I have a splinter. I tried and so did Tyler. Can you look at it?”

  “Chris, how old are you?”

  Holding his chin up proudly, “Eleven, and Tyler is nine,” Chris answered.

  “Don’t be shy because Mary and I both have sons that just turned thirteen,” Sandy smiled. “Show me where the splinter is.”

  Slowly, Chris stood up and turned around before pulling down his underwear, and Sandy didn’t need him to point it out. “Oh,” she shivered, looking at the left butt cheek. A large purplish red area covered h
alf the outside of the buttock.

  “We were getting away from stinkers and I slid down a board. Can you fix it?” he asked hopefully.

  “Yes, and I’m very proud of you for showing me because it’s already infected, but only the skin,” Sandy told him. “If you had waited much longer, it would’ve made you very sick. You’re going to have to be tough.”

  Chris gave a sigh as his shoulders slumped in relief. “I’ll be tough if you can get it out.”

  Sandy finished washing him off, then grabbed the hose and rinsed Chris off. Wrapping Chris in a towel and picking him up, she carried him back to the bedrolls. “Ready?” she asked Tyler as she put Chris down.

  Looking up at Sandy with a huge grin, Tyler nodded and Sandy picked him up. Because of his age, Tyler wasn’t the least bit bashful and when Sandy sat him in the chair he kicked his underwear off. Before starting on Tyler, Sandy poured cold water in the shower bag and tested it. “How is that?” she asked, squirting the lukewarm water on Tyler.

  “Feels good,” Tyler smiled.

  Tyler had fewer scratches on his body which told Sandy; Chris cleared the way for his little brother. But, like Chris, Tyler’s feet were swollen with cuts and scrapes. When she was done and rinsing Tyler off, Sandy noticed with the dirt gone from Tyler, his skin looked red from a sunburn. “Tyler, are you sunburned?”

  “Yes, ma’am. Stinkers found our hiding place yesterday and we had to run. Normally, we hid during the day.”

  “Why?” Sandy asked, drying him off.

  “Stinkers don’t seem to like to move during the day, but they can see good. At night stinkers move more, but if you stay near shadows, they can’t spot you most of the time,” Tyler answered as she dried him. “Also, the soldiers would shoot or throw stuff at us if they seen us, but they only came out during the day.”

  Picking up Tyler, Sandy hugged him as she carried him over to the bedrolls. “That’s why we move at night,” Sandy admitted. “But we shoot people that mess with us.”

  Hearing that, Tyler smiled bigger and heard Chris suck in a breath sharply as Sandy stopped. Turning around, Tyler saw Mary over the splinter in Chris’s butt with tweezers. “I couldn’t get it. I promise, I tried,” Tyler declared.